I would love to have a cool greenhouse but one isn't possible unless I build a permanent structure. The weight of the snow can't be supported by temporary means in this location.
We will try building a small one this spring using 4 pallets, some 2x4s and plywood. The 2x4s, screws to assemble, and plastic to wrap it in will be the only things not salvaged.
Mine has the twinwall panels and the roof panels have to be temporary supported during the Winter inside or one good heavy snowload will bow the panels in and they will pop in ( or out of the channel holders however you want to look at it )
I wait until spring to start anything. Another 1.5 months. Frost in the ground here... Well I've hit frost in July even.
I make ours also. I start with piles of wood chips. When the chicken coop gets cleaned out I add that to the piles. The get turned a couple times a year and in 2-3 years I have a nice rich, black amendment for the garden. The piles are on the left.
Hope you're not turning those by hand. Our county does 3 parts food waste to 1 part double shredded mulch and does a nice job cooking it. It goes right from the trailer into the beds.
Not a chance. They're about 60' long, 15' wide and 6'-7' high. I'd spend the entire gardening season turning mulch instead of actually planting and harvesting. I have a friend down the road with an old diesel Oliver 4x4 with a loader. He stops by when I want to turn it.
not so much of a weed control thing but the hugelkultur system may be worth looking into for raised bed water retention. i would dig out the sod first then dig down 8 to 12 inches more at least, then put sod in grass side down, add a bunch of sticks, bark, punky wood and any other compostable stuff than backfill. Give it a little time to settle than plant it. I tried this thanks to a blog (The deliberate agrarian) for some strawberry beds. I used a old tire with sidewalls cut out and flipped inside out. dug down the depth of tire and then another 12 inches. filled with a mix of stuff as listed and buried all but about an inch or two of tire. planted my strawberries in august as suggested in blog and by Roe only had to water once when planted and they were thriving. If the snow ever melts i will pull back the mulch and post a pic.
Blueberries and blackberries too. I throw fresh (not seasoned) wood chips on my berries every year. Unless you're reeealy serious about a laaaarge garden, you might want to look at something other than a BCS. They're marvelous machines but WOW, are they ever pricey new. In the $2000 area. I didn't know that until I started looking for a new engine for it.
Is this the general Gardening thread now? If so, here is a pic of one of my on going attempts at mushroom farming. I meet with my Jedi Mushroom Master this weekend for a lesson.
How is that bcs treating you. Its a big investment is it worth the $$$? Do you have any of the implements for it and how are they? I run the chickens through the garden when in the winter. Lots of leaves piled on top and then they mix and manure for me.
I don't think it hurts the compost pile either. They mix it and add manure straight to it. I don't even have a traditional compost pile anymore. Have some piles breaking down but its more old bark and stuff that takes forever. All smaller stuff runs through the chickens. I feed mine everything except poultry meat.
I have no complaints with the BCS. I broke some really hard packed ground when I put the new engine on it and it plowed right through. Is it worth the money? I got it for the price of the engine and an hour of my time to change it over so let me put it this way. When I started looking for a tiller, I'd never heard of BCS. If I had compared tillers by price alone, I doubt I would have picked it. It's $1500 more than most others. Having used it now for 7 years, I would say yes, it's worth the price. There are no belts to slip, burn and replace. It has a "cone" shaped clutch which will never slip. Now I'm guessing it will wear out like any other clutch but I haven't seen any sign of it yet. It's all heavy steel, somewhere around 200#. You just can't stop it unless you hit a substantial size rock and even then it doesn't stop it jumps up over it. It's built to last several generations; kinda like the old Ford "N" series tractors. I have not added any attachments of which there are many. They range from $800-$1800 each. Most of them I have as a separate piece of equipment so I never needed them. Here is a page with a list of available attachments. http://www.bcsamerica.com/attachments/
